The Ultim 32/23 class brings together the “giant” trimarans taking part in very high-level offshore races, such as Brest Atlantiques, La Route du Rhum, or Nice Ultimed. Find the latest news and investigations from Tip & Shaft on the subject.
For its 30th anniversary, the Transat Jacques Vabre Normandie-Le Havre has had an eventful week, from a stopover in Lorient for the Class40s and Ocean Fifties, to a stoppage in Le Havre for the Imoca boats, with only the Ultim boats following the planned programme. Tip & Shaft takes a look at the sequence of events, with the key players involved.
After looking at the Class40 and Ocean Fifty fleet, this week, Tip & Shaft is examining the 5 Ultim and 40 Imoca boats that will be lining up on Sunday at the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre Normandie-Le Havre. We are focusing on the favourites in these two categories along with the Race Director, Francis Le Goff, the President of the Imoca class, Antoine Mermod, the Director of the Finistère Course au Large training centre in Port-la-Forêt, Jeanne Grégoire, the skipper of Holcim-PRB, Nicolas Lunven, the Race Directors of the 2024 Vendée Globe, Hubert Lemonnier and the 24-hour Ultim, Gildas Morvan, and the journalist, Jacques Guyader (Ouest-France).
Second last weekend in the 24h Ultim finishing just 3 minutes behind Banque Populaire, Charles Caudrelier now heads to the Transat Jacques Vabre Normandie-Le Havre, with his co skipper Erwan Israel, then to the Arkea Ultim Challenge-Brest, a unique new solo Ultim race around the world which will start on January 7. He spoke to Tip & Shaft.
After racing the third leg of the Pro Sailing Tour on Viabilis with Pierre Quiroga, Pascal Bidégorry is training this week with Tom Laperche on SVR Lazartigue whilst also awaiting the launch of Macif, Charlie Dalin’s new Imoca, at the end of June. He will sail with Dalin this season, notably on the Transat Jacques Vabre. Tip & Shaft spoke to him this week.
Last Wednesday the SVR-Lazartigue team held a press briefing at the Maison de la Bretagne in Paris to announce that, in early 2024, it will be the young Tom Laperche who will compete in the Arkea Ultim Challenge-Brest as François Gabart chooses to focus on double handed and crewed sailing with the boat. And at the same time they talked of integration back into the Ultim 32/23 class, as we announced two weeks ago.
The General Assembly (AGM) of the Ultim 32/23 class took place on Friday in Paris. There the class announced the inclusion now of the SVR Lazartigue team which has finally agreed to modify François Gabart’s trimaran to comply with the rule. A four-year calendar has also been unveiled which includes the return of the Transat Jacques Vabre this year, upsetting the Imoca class. Tip & Shaft tells you more.
At one year before the start of the Arkea Ultim Challenge-Brest which will start on January 7, 2024, the Ultim class has appointed a new general secretary, Stéphane Guilbaud. It is a good chance for Tip & Shaft to take stock of the priority issues awaiting the latter.
After the 2022 season which ended with third place in the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe in the Ultim class, Thomas Coville has been back on the water during this first week of the year. The crew of Sodebo Ultim 3 is now ready to take on the Route of Discovery record between Cadiz and San Salvador (Bahamas). The record of 6 days 14 hours and 29 minutes has been held since 2013 by Spindrift 2. Tip & Shaft spoke with Coville.
After an impressive 2022 season on the Figaro Beneteau circuit which was marked by four victories from four solo races, including winning the pinnacle Solitaire du Figaro and the title of French Elite offshore racing champion, Tom Laperche is preparing to compete on The Ocean Race with the crew of Holcim PRB before he then continues the 2023 season on François Gabart’s Ultim SVR Lazartigue. That is quite the programme for a 25-year-old sailor who talks to Tip & Shaft.
Charles Caudrelier won the 12th edition of the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe in Ultim on Wednesday. Aided by experts – sailors Pascal Bidégorry and Franck Cammas, the race director of Finistère Atlantique (among others things) Gildas Morvan, Christian Le Pape, former director of the Finistère racing center off Port-la-Forêt, and Pierre-Marie Bourguinat, journalist who follows the Ultims for the organization -, Tip & Shaft, offers you a decryption of this announced success.
The 12th edition of the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe started on Wednesday at 2:15 p.m., and there has been no shortage of twists in the first 24 hours, some of them very cruel such as the abandonment of Sam Goodchild from the Ocean Fifty class, the U-turn of Armel Le Cléac’ h in Ultim, a class in which Charles Caudrelier is under the threat of a 4 hour penalty. Tip & Shaft brought together two weather routing specialists, Dominic Vittet and Christian Dumard – who are respectively part of the routing cells of Yves Le Blevec and Francis Joyon in Ultim – to discuss the weather scenario at the start of the race.
As in every major event, Tip & Shaft has mustered a panel of experts to analyse field in each class for the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe which starts this Sunday November 6. For this second part now looking at the Ultims and Class40s, we have coaches Tanguy Leglatin and Etienne Saïz, designer Vincent Lauriot Prévost, co-founder of VPLP, Gildas Morvan, ex Figarist who was race director this year for the Finistère Atlantique and the 24h Ultim, sailors Achille Nebout and Pascal Bidégorry, as well as Didier Ravon, journalist for Voiles & Voiliers and Liberation.
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